Eight Grade 1 bands entered for North American Championships

The largest number of Grade 1 bands in recent memory has entered to compete for the North American Pipe Band Championship at the Glengarry Highland Games at Maxville, Ontario, on August 2nd.

A total of eight of North America’s 11 active Grade 1 bands have so far entered the event, a number that has steadily risen over the last five years after falling to as few as three bands in the 1990s.

Bands entered:

• 78th Highlanders (Halifax Citadel) (Canada)
• City of Washington (USA)
• Dowco-Triumph Street (Canada)
• Oran Mor (USA)
• Peel Regional Police (Canada)
• Scottish Lion-78th Fraser Highlanders (Canada)
• Toronto Police (Canada)
• Windsor Police (Canada)

The three North American Grade 1 bands that have not entered are Alberta Caledonia (Canada), Los Angeles Scots (USA), and Simon Fraser University (Canada). Each of those bands is located at 3,000 kilometres from Maxville and plans to attend the 2008 World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow on August 16th.

The event will be the first time competing in Grade 1 at Maxville for Oran Mor, which was upgraded by the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association, and Dowco-Triumph Street, which was moved up by th British Columbia Pipers Association, after the 2007 season.